So Wednesday evening I went to visit my friend Anne, who lives in this amazing old-time building on Park Avenue in the 30's. I walked into this gleaming lobby with huge framed Audobon prints on the walls and a perfect floor and leather sofas and wood panelled walls.
I met her dog and saw her gorgeous apartment and then we went up to the ROOF DECK which was one of the best places I have been in this city. Empire State Building jutting up to the left, Chrysler building in front, the river off to the right. Views from every direction, all through the tangle of flowers growing around the perimeter of the deck. No one was up there. There were several tables and a whole line of lounge chairs, and ivy growing up the one wall. And well, as Anne will probably move in a few years when she has another child it is clear I will have to get very loaded by then so I can buy the place from her.
So I stood and took a ton of photos and tried not to swoon in fear as I saw Park and Fifth Avenues below me and the taxis looking like toy cars and I had that weird fear you get, thinking what if I lost control for a second and just ran off the side? And what was weird, too, is there were these three huge white birds. I guess seagulls? Just flying around and around so fast, almost over our heads and then swooping past the Chrysler building and past all the other skyscrapers, then back down around again. It was strange, following these birds, trying to get them on film and to see where they went; it made the city seem very vast and silent in a way it never seems otherwise.
It was just after that explosion happened in Midtown, around 6pm, but I didn't realize that's where the smoke was coming from. Tho I did wonder at the two loud helicopters overhead buzzing and buzzing as the birds flapped around and swooped by at dizzy speeds like they were going to smash into something.
Then all the birds were hanging out and I was jealous. I think the one in the middle had a crush on the one on the right.
Then we went to dinner and on the street it became clear that something had happened. But we went and ate Chinese food and forgot about it. Actually, I used to work with Anne and when we came back to work a few days after September 11 and got evacuated like an hour in, she and I ran across town and ended up having lunch at Jackson Hole in the same neighborhood.
After, we went back up to the roof. At night it was even more amazing.
The end.
I met her dog and saw her gorgeous apartment and then we went up to the ROOF DECK which was one of the best places I have been in this city. Empire State Building jutting up to the left, Chrysler building in front, the river off to the right. Views from every direction, all through the tangle of flowers growing around the perimeter of the deck. No one was up there. There were several tables and a whole line of lounge chairs, and ivy growing up the one wall. And well, as Anne will probably move in a few years when she has another child it is clear I will have to get very loaded by then so I can buy the place from her.
So I stood and took a ton of photos and tried not to swoon in fear as I saw Park and Fifth Avenues below me and the taxis looking like toy cars and I had that weird fear you get, thinking what if I lost control for a second and just ran off the side? And what was weird, too, is there were these three huge white birds. I guess seagulls? Just flying around and around so fast, almost over our heads and then swooping past the Chrysler building and past all the other skyscrapers, then back down around again. It was strange, following these birds, trying to get them on film and to see where they went; it made the city seem very vast and silent in a way it never seems otherwise.
It was just after that explosion happened in Midtown, around 6pm, but I didn't realize that's where the smoke was coming from. Tho I did wonder at the two loud helicopters overhead buzzing and buzzing as the birds flapped around and swooped by at dizzy speeds like they were going to smash into something.
Then all the birds were hanging out and I was jealous. I think the one in the middle had a crush on the one on the right.
Then we went to dinner and on the street it became clear that something had happened. But we went and ate Chinese food and forgot about it. Actually, I used to work with Anne and when we came back to work a few days after September 11 and got evacuated like an hour in, she and I ran across town and ended up having lunch at Jackson Hole in the same neighborhood.
After, we went back up to the roof. At night it was even more amazing.
The end.
posted by Carolyn Turgeon at
8:01 AM
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